Archive for the ‘Cafe’ Category
V-Rating: VVVVV Not so long ago I was bemoaning the lack of good brunch venues in Canberra. Sure, cafes abound. But try finding a place that uses fresh, quality ingredients, has an interesting and tasty menu, and doesn’t have a price range in the double figures. After listening to my diatribe, a good friend recommended that I try Satis - a reasonably new cafe in the Watson shops.
One visit later I breathed a sigh of relief - Satis has all (or at least most of) the things I look for in a brunch spot: good coffee, a great, cheap menu, friendly staff, and a slightly alternative vibe. The fact it’s vegetarian is the icing on the cake. Satis clearly defines itself as a brunch spot - it doesn’t open before 8.30am and is closed by mid afternoon. The menu isn’t extensive or finicky, but everything on it is delicious and well-presented. The decor is friendly but funky - paintings and stencil art by local artists on the wall mixed with chunky, dark wood fittings. The breakfast menu has sweet and savoury options including banana bread with berries and baked ricotta, free range eggs on toast, and home made granola. Most of the standard items on the menu are not vegan but can easily be adapted - for example, Satis has one choice of vegan bread and can substitute scrambled tofu for eggs. The food is great value - of the nine choices, only one costs over $10.
One of my favourite choices is the big brekkie. It comes with an egg or scrambled tofu, toast, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach (basically, all the veggies I love in the morning). Yesterday ours came with mashed potato and feta as well. Yum!
Tempted as I was by the big brekkie, in the interests of this review I tried the wild rice porridge with compote and coconut milk.
I’ve never tried wild rice in porridge before, but it worked well. Andy said it reminded him of an Indonesian breakfast porridge of green beans and black rice porridge. I liked the slight crunchiness and savoury taste of the rice, and the coconut milk base was a nice, light accompaniement. The berry compote was the highlight of the dish - rich, a little sour and a little sweet and topped with toasted coconut. Satis also has a small menu of light meals and lunch foods, a very tasty looking selection of baked goods, and a good range of fair trade coffees and teas. The only real problem with Satis is its success. The cafe is squeezed into a narrow space better suited to a greasy fry takeaway joint. The tables jostle for space out the front and along the interior before spilliing out into a small, sunny courtyard. On my last visit at around 10am there were frequent lines to get in, although the wait was only 5 - 10 minutes. While the staff are very friendly and the service is quick when the cafe is not too busy, the service was slower and more haphazard on my last trip. We waited about twenty minutes for our coffees to come, and in the meantime watched bemused while people who arrived after us were served coffee and breakfast before any of our order arrived. Still, I’m always happy to see a vegetarian place thriving, and the occasional wait for service is a small price to pay for finally having a good brunch spot in Canberra.
V Rating: Super V Iku is a successful chain of healthy vegetarian takeaway restaurants. It’s like the Sydney vegetarian equivalent of McDonald’s. Only better.
I recently hopped in the buzzing queue in the food court in the MLC Centre at Martin Place. Laid out in front of me in all of its macrobiotic, organic, gluten-free options glory, were salads, rice balls, wraps, soup, hot casseroles, pasta dishes, and dessert. I felt healthy and virtuous just looking at the food. Despite the myriad temptations, I couldn’t go past the takeaway mixed salad for $8.50. There were ginger noodles, steamed vegetables, white beans with mixed seeds, beetroot and cabbage in a vinegar dressing, and sesame brown rice, topped off with the house specialty creamy tahini dressing. The salad looked and tasted spectacular, and although it was a filling meal it didn’t leave me with a sleepy carbohydrate low come 3pm. The Iku menu changes weekly, though you’re always guaranteed of finding favourites like black rice pudding. Most stores open from lunch until dinner, but the central city outlets servicing the white collar crowd shut by 4pm. The size of the resturants (and opportuniy for eating in) varies. The Darlinghurst store is very big, Glebe has a peaceful courtyard, while the MLC Centre is just a counter operation within a busy food court. Iku also has a catering business, and distributes a range of food (including the aforementioned creamy tahini dressing) throughout health food shops. Iku doesn’t flaunt its vegetarian credentials, selling itself on the health benefits of its food, rather than its meatless menu. It’s a godsend for vegos and vegans who want a quick, tasty and stress-free lunch, and proves once and for all that vegetarian food can be sexy.
V Rating: Super V Badde Manors is a much-loved vegetarian cafe at the Sydney University end of Glebe Point Road. Arranged on an acute corner, it’s hard to miss with windows and walls flying out in all directions, and a shop sign featuring a large bronze sculpture of two cherubs proudly flanking a coffee machine. Inside, there are deep red walls, old fashioned wooden chairs, and tables with peeling paint. The cafe is brimming with nooks and crannies to lose yourself in. Combined with the art deco light fittings, mirrors and hexagonal tables, grainy black and white and sepia photos, and precarious stacks of second hand books, you almost feel like you’ve stepped into the parlour of an eccentric aunt or an artlessly bohemian university pad. The patrons are equally eclectic. On Saturdays it’s over-flowing with people, perhaps because it’s just over the road from the fabulous and busy Glebe markets. There are students, academics, goths, artists and Glebe locals. It’s the kind of place that provokes right-wing columnists to sneer about green-voting, latte-sipping inner west types, which is just another reason to love it. Badde Manors is a cafe rather than restaurant. The house specialities are European cakes, home made gelati and sorbet, and some unusual hot drinks (I have it on good authority that the sahlep is highly memorable). I like the fact that it doesn’t make a big deal about being vegetarian, or rely on this as it’s only selling point. There are also unpretentious light snacks and more substantial dishes, for example foccacia and Turkish bread sandwiches, ‘authentic’ bagels, daily soup, pasta and mains specials. It is vegetarian, but makes an effort to include some vegan choices. Although I liked the sound of the bagel with mushroom pate, grilled haloumi, fresh tomatoes and spinach, but chose to have the chef’s special salad of the day. It came with iceberg lettuce, corn, cucumber, tempeh and tomato. It wasn’t an exciting dish, but it made a healthy, satisfying lunch. Badde Manors has been a Glebe fixture for over twenty years. It has a strong sense of community, and is famous as the birthplace of the Cafe of the Gate of Salvation, Sydney’s popular non-denominational gospel choir. A great place to savour cakes, coffee, and conversation, any visit to Badde Manors is usually memorable.
V Rating: VVV Nothing is more synonymous with Bondi Beach than a sprawling blue sky, breaking surf, and a long stretch of white sand curving from cliff to cliff. But every time I walk by Le Paris-Go Cafe on Hall Street, it’s like a snapshot of a certain idly beautiful lifestyle that’s also contributed to Bondi’s fame. Perhaps that’s why Le-Paris Go has become something of a Bondi institution. On Saturday morning I wandered down for an early morning breakfast. It was already busy, but I spied a stool at bench at an open window and bumped my way through the throngs.
There were people squeezing onto couches, striped banquettes, outside benches and small wooden tables. Adding an appropriately Parisian touch were wall murals of the Palais Versailles and a cheeky looking gargoyle. Dogs waited outside, keeping an eye on their owners sitting barely a metre away. Best of all, two walls of the cafe had long windows that opened completely, filling the cafe with fresh air and letting the outside life in.
Despite the crowds, my coffee came quickly. There was a choice of ten vegetarian options, and plenty of ’sides’ if you preferred to make up your own meal. But I couldn’t go past the breakfast burrito with refried beans, guacamole, scrambled eggs and sour cream. It wasn’t the best breakfast burrito I’d had in my life. I liked the fact it came with a salad but the tortilla was a little greasy, and there was a slight vinegary taste to the refried bean and guacamole filling. But you know what? I didn’t care. With the wind quietly blowing in through the open window, a great soy cappucino under my belt, and soft guitar music playing over the sound system, I was happy.
V Rating: VVV Swell restaurant is one of a handful of cafes on a short strip of road overlooking Bronte Beach. Like the local residents, each cafe is immaculately presented, with an easy charm and an appreciation for the finer things in life.
Arriving slightly sweaty and red-faced from the coastal walk, I was almost intimated by its breezy, beautiful look. Like a little piece of California in Bronte, Swell has an open, clean design, and friendly waiting staff with perfect tans set off by crisp white shirts. However, we soon settled into our outdoor table and scanned the breakfast menu. The Swell menu reminded me a little of bills: simple food built around fresh ingredients and presented with flair.
There were plenty of options for vegetarians, including banana bread with berries and ricotta, an egg white omelette with mushrooms, roasted tomato and spinach, fresh fruit with vanilla yoghurt and muesli or granola. As with most breakfast menus, vegans had fewer choices, although the fresh fruit and muesli options seemed adaptable and you could make up your own meal from the extensive range of sides. The menu was reasonably expensive, even by Eastern Suburbs standards, but it was clear from the food that you were paying for quality produce, not simply a view of the Bronte breaks. My friend and Canberra reviewer, AC, chose the roasted pumpkin, spinach and feta on Turkish toast. It came with poached eggs, which he substituted for hash browns. He seemed very content with this choice.
Two other friends tried the swell granola with fresh banana and vanilla yoghurt, and the bircher muesli with a fresh fruit compote.
Andy had his typically spartan poached eggs on toast. He ordered a side of mushrooms, but received roasted tomatoes instead. Fortunately, I had ordered (and received) mushrooms, roasted tomatoes and avocado on toast, so could confirm that the tomatoes were the better option.
My dish was not off the menu - I put together three sides on toast. I debated this because the Swell dishes seemed carefully composed, but when a produce supplier walked through carrying a box of taut, plump avocados I couldn’t resist. Lovers of soy milk will be pleased to know that Swell is a strictly Bonsoy establishment. They also offer a number of freshly squeezed juices, and smoothies.
By 9.30am on a Saturday morning, Swell was frantic. Their website warns that on weekends they only take bookings for groups of 4 or more, and this is advice well-heeded. It’s a lovely spot for a quality breakfast overlooking the beach.
V Rating: VVV The day we visited the American Museum of Natural History was windy, cold, and snowing. Perfect weather for contemplating the observable universe. Not so awesome for going outside to hunt for food. Needs must, we took a punt on the Museum’s food court. I was sceptical about the quality of their food (largely because when we’d asked at the ticket counter for somewhere to have lunch we were assured the food court “did donuts). However, I was surprised to find a range of healthy, vegetarian options. Running down the centre of the food court was a large salad bar. There were lots of pre-made, interesting and tasty vegetarian salads and hot dishes, but you could also make up your own with fresh ingredients and dressings. On top of this, there was brown and wholemeal bread, juices, and fresh fruit. When I thought about it, the amount and prominence of healthy food was unsurprising because the Museum must get subwayloads of school children each year and would be under pressure to provide nutritious lunch options. There were still some token deep fried foods, greasy pizzas, and cream topped sundaes tucked away in the corners. Proving you can lead an American to a salad bar, but you can’t make them eat well, all the diners I saw made a bee-line for the artery-clogging food. Fools.
Despite our less than auspicious motives for visiting the Museum, we had a great time exploring the new planetarium and history of human evolution wings, and checking out the older dioramas and American Indian sections. If you do go, make sure you go on a free guided tour. We were taken around by a fantastic guide called Berne, who not only brought the exhibitions to life, she also peppered the tour with fascinating insights about the history of the Museum, and the intellectual debates it had navigated. For example, in 2000 the Museum controversially opened it’s new Rose Centre for Earth and Space with only eight planets. To the chagrin of the Friends of Pluto movement, the Museum had decided that Pluto just didn’t fit the bill. Since then, of course, Pluto has been
V Rating: VV PEN is surreptitiously located at the corner of two biggish roads in Pyrmont in a converted wool shed. The exterior looks like your run of the mill, humble local cafe serving the office crowd. It’s always intrigued me because the name reminds me of a writer’s activist group - but until recently I’d never ventured in.
Once inside, you realise that it has a tardis like design. The narrow frontage belies the large, single room that makes up the cafe. The interior is very striking, with vivacious red walls, exposed dark wood roof beams, and a large, polished wooden table running down the centre of the room, adding an inner West cum country kitchen feel. The menu, while full of fresh market ingredients, is not abundant with vegetarian options. There are two vegetarian salads, including a salad stack, a vegetarian sandwich, and a vegetarian pasta sauce than comes with a choice of four pastas. There were no vegetarian specials the day I visited, and my first choice of salad was out of stock, even though it was slightly before 12.30 when I ordered. So, while I usually avoid ordering dishes that sound tokenistic, I went the salad stack. My first impression wasn’t great. The stack didn’t come with all the ingredients listed on the menu. Also, when I asked for the optional cheddar cheese I assumed it would be delicately scattered around the plate, not stuck in a chunk at the top of the stack. These things aside, this was one of the better stacks I’ve tried. The nicest part was that it utilised a lot of fresh ingredients, like grated carrot, avocado, alfalfa beetroot and lettuce, rather than being made up of oily grilled vegetables. The dressing was a light, lemon vinegarette, which brought the fresh ingredients to life by adding some zing. I wouldn’t rate PEN as my favourite lunchspot in Pyrmont. However, it stacks up (boom tish) well against its other cafe counterparts. |
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